Author's note: As always apologies for the wait. School is taking nearly all my free time. I hope this chapter is worth the wait though. You guys are the best readers a writer could have. Thanks for enjoying my scribbling! *hugs*

Disclaimer: Seriously?

Chapter Ten

I looked on in terror as two brutish looking vampires brought Eric out in silver chains. He looked terrible: paler than usual, eyes sunken in their sockets, skin taunt over his cheekbones. I yelled and kicked and struggled against my captor, but Quinn was too strong for me. He begged me not to fight him, said that it was better this way, but I ignored him and fought as hard as I could. I knew it wouldn't be enough, but I had to try.

Felipe sat on his throne looking entirely too pleased with himself. At that moment I wanted nothing more than to drive a stake through his undead heart. He smiled at me and I tried to turn away, repulsed by his mere presence. I knew he was going to kill Eric. And he was going to make me watch. I continued to fight against Quinn's iron grip, but my energy was flagging. I couldn't fight much longer.

"Sookie," Eric said weakly. If it hadn't been for the bond, I wouldn't have heard him. I could feel him using the last of his strength to get my attention. My eyes filled with tears as I looked at him.

"Sookie, stop. There's nothing you can do for me. You must conserve your strength."

The tears spilled over as I continued to struggle. "No, Eric. I won't let them kill you, I won't."

"Sookie, he's already dead. He's a vampire, remember?" Quinn said from behind me.

I wrenched myself around as best I could to glare at him. It was his fault we were in this mess to begin with. "Don't you presume to tell me who is and is not alive, John Quinn," I said angrily. "Eric's more alive than you will ever be."

Quinn looked like I'd slapped him. He was too shocked to retort. I took his numb expression as my cue to try and break free. I managed to wrench my right arm free, but I'd misjudged Quinn's strength. He yanked me back to him roughly and I cried out in pain. I heard Eric growl, but he was too weak from the silver to do much else.

"I'm so sorry, Sookie," Quinn said. His eyes were distant and he refused to look me in the eye. "I never meant for any of this to happen."

I ignored him as my eyes sought Eric's. They lacked the warmth and spark that I loved so much. I cried harder. It was so unfair. I'd done this. If Eric had never met me he wouldn't be here. In that moment I cursed Bill, Niall, Hadley, Jason, Sophie-Anne, even my own Gran. I hadn't asked to be telepathic. I hadn't asked to be a Supe magnet. And now because of my disability, the one person who genuinely cared about me was going to die.

"Lover, look at me."

I looked. There was no condemnation in his face, only love and acceptance. I wanted to say something – anything – but no words would come. We merely stared at each other, communicating through our bond that which we could not say.

I saw Felipe approach Eric, sword in hand. The guards shoved Eric down into a kneeling position. I started struggling again, but it was no use. The sword came down in an arc toward Eric's neck and I screamed.

I woke up screaming. My body was drenched in cold sweat. I clutched at the duvet, trying to clam down. It was a dream. A horrible, terrifying nightmare. The room was pitch black, but somehow I knew it was daytime. As my breathing slowed and my eyes adjusted, I glanced at the clock on the nightstand. Sure enough, it was a little after eleven in the morning. I threw the covers off and ran for Eric's coffin. I needed to see him. Carefully, I opened the lid a few inches. Eric's eyes were closed, but he was there. I let out a sigh of relief. That dream had felt so real. I opened the coffin a little bit more and brushed a kiss across his forehead. He was cold and lifeless of course, but he was the most precious thing in the world to me. My dream had solidified that.

It was early for me to be awake, but I didn't want to go back to sleep. I went through my wake up routine quietly. I was about to look into ordering some lunch when my cell rang. I picked it up and saw it was Sam. Well, that was about the last person I expected. Given the way our last conversation had gone, I wasn't sure I wanted to talk to him, but he was my boss. As least I thought he was.

"Hello, Sam," I said cautiously.

"Hey, Sookie. How're things in New York?" Even over the phone I could sense Sam's trepidation; he didn't know what to say any more than I did.

"As well as can be expected, I guess," I said. I didn't really want to get into the ins and outs, Sam was touchy enough as it was about my involvement with Eric. Unfortunately, Sam knew me well enough to know when I wasn't being entirely truthful.

"Come on, Sookie. I know everything's not sunshine and puppies up there. What's wrong?"

I weighed my options. If I told Sam, I'd run the risk of his temper getting the better of him. Again. But Sam was my friend as well as my boss. And an outside perspective might not be a bad thing. Maybe my problems jut needed a new set of eyes. I decided to risk it.

"Alright, Sam, but if I tell you, you have to promise not to blow up. I am not in the mood for any vampire versus shifter garbage, OK?"

Sam sighed. "OK, fine."

Slowly, I told him the story of the last few days. Thankfully, Sam kept quiet until I finished. Turns out it was merely the calm before the storm.

"Wow, that's quite a story, Sookie. What does Eric think?"

Sam was asking what Eric thought? That was a new one. "Eric thinks that we've got Felipe right where we want him actually. If we can prove that Felipe tampered with the running of Eliza's kingdom and tried to have Eric killed, then the Ancient Pythoness should rule in our favor."

"That sounds like and awful lot of ifs, Sookie. What happens then?"

"I'm not sure, Sam. Hopefully, it means that Felipe will leave us alone."

"Sookie, if the King really did those things, I don't think they'll let him keep his kingdom."

I didn't like the sound of that. "What are you getting at, Sam?"

"Sookie, I know you don't want to hear this, but it needs to be said. If this plays out the way you hope, they're gonna ask Eric to take over Louisiana. Do you really think he'll pass that up? Do you really think he'd choose you over that kind of power?"

My hand tightened on the phone. Anger bubbled up in my chest. Quinn had hurled that same accusation when he last visited my house. I couldn't believe I was hearing it from Sam as well. Was it just a shifter thing? I knew that both Sam and Quinn were worried about me, but how much of their bias came from their natural prejudice against vampires? Neither of them knew Eric very well. Not the way I did. I tried very hard to take people one a time, to not judge individuals based on the actions of a group. But Sam was making that really hard.

"Sam, I know that Eric doesn't want to be king. He told me so," I said as calmly as I could.

Sam sighed. "Vampires lie, Sookie. You know that better than most." He sounded like he was talking to a very small child; it was infuriating.

"Oh and humans don't?" I retorted. "Humans lie and kill each other every day and no one even blinks! What exactly makes them better than vampires?"

"Humans are alive, Sookie! Why can't you get that through your head? If you keep hanging around with these vampires, you're going to get yourself killed! I'm just looking out for you!"

I'd had enough. Why can't the people closest to me allow me to be happy? Eric made me happy. "I can look out for myself, thanks," I replied coldly. "We'll talk about this when I get back to Bon Temps." I snapped the phone closed and threw it onto the bed.

I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples. This was just great. Now I had Sam to worry about on top of everything else. A new, unpleasant thought struck me. Could I keep working at Merlotte's with Sam's attitude? Did I even want to? I liked my job. I've been doing it for a while and I'm good at it. I knew that Sam would never fire me. Look at how long he kept Arlene around after she got involved with those FOTS lunatics. For a guy who usually was loathe to rustle feathers, Sam sure was good at ruffling mine. How did everything get so messed up?

I put aside that depressing line of thinking in favor of some lunch. Since I still wasn't comfortable leaving Eric alone I ordered in again. After I finished my chicken parmesan, I curled up in the big fluffy chair that sat in one corner of the room and read. I don't remember falling asleep.

The room was dark and dank. It smelled heavily of mold. I tried to turn around to get a better look, but my wrists and ankles were tied to a chair. Panic nearly overwhelmed me. This was just like before; suddenly I was hyperventilating. My eyes darted around the room looking for…well, I wasn't sure what. My captor? A way out? I saw neither, only more darkness. I wanted to call out, but thought better of it. I didn't want to let on that I was awake. Instead, I concentrated on the bond. I poured my fear and panic into it, knowing that Eric would come for me. That, it turns out, was my fatal mistake.

A door creaked open. Bright light shone through it temporarily blinding me. I turned my head away and squeezed my eyes shut. The door closed. I heard a match being lit. I could see the room get brighter on the other side of my eyelids. Tentatively, I opened my eyes.

Eric stood across from me still as a statue. The flickering light of the torches played across his pale skin in a way that usually warmed my insides. Any happiness I may felt evaporated when I looked into his eyes. They were dead; no emotion whatsoever. I was looking at a stranger.

"Eric?" I whispered. When he didn't acknowledge me, I tried again. "Eric, what's going on? Come on, you gotta talk to me. I'm kinda freaking out here."

Still nothing. I probed the bond and that's when I felt it. Pain. Confusion. Rage. Shame. Compulsion. Resignation. Eric still refused to look at me. I was more terrified than I had ever been in my entire life. I knew I was going to die.

The door opened again. A man of average height with coarse brown hair and eyes stood next to Eric. Standing next to Eric he looked more like a teenager than what I knew he was. This was the Roman centurion – Eric's maker – Appius. He looked at me with pure hate.

"You've caused me quite a bit of trouble, Miss Stackhouse," Appius said. Apparently, his hated of me didn't prevent him addressing me directly.

Well, if I was going to die anyway, I wasn't going to give Appius the satisfaction of thinking I was afraid him. "I can't imagine why; I'm just a barmaid," I said; my voice only wavered a little.

"I think we both know that's not true," he replied. I rolled my eyes. Goodness, he was one handlebar mustache away from a cliché.

"Look, if you're going to kill me, why don't you just get it over with? Especially if I'm such a bother."

Appius laughed a full throated belly laugh. "I have no intention of killing you, Miss Stackhouse."

I was confused for a second. Then my eyes drifted to Eric. He was just as still as ever, but there was a pain in his eyes that hadn't been there moments before. That's when I knew. I tried to scream, to make some sort of sound, but nothing came out. Appius nodded to Eric and finally my Viking moved. He crossed the space between us in three strides and knelt in front of me. I felt nothing in the bond; it was like a chasm had opened into a howling abyss. And that was more terrifying than anything else. No matter what was going on between us, Eric never felt nothing.

I heard his fangs click down. I began to fight against the ropes as hard as I could. It was useless of course. I heard Appius give Eric the command to end my life. Eric hesitated for the briefest second before he grabbed my shoulders to hold me still. The last thing I saw were his fangs streaking toward my throat.

My eyes flew open. Eric was indeed above me, hands on both shoulders, trying to shake me awake. I screamed for all I was worth, half convinced I was still dreaming.

"Sookie, lover, wake up," he said urgently.

I tried to focus. I slowly stopped squirming and looked at his face. His eyes were bright with worry. In fact, worry was practically rolling off him in waves. He'd never seen me like this and it made him very uncomfortable. OK, that was good. I wasn't dreaming anymore. I tried to get a handle on my breathing and tried to sit up.

"It's alright, Eric. I was just dreaming," I said haltingly, trying to reassure both of us.

Eric didn't look entirely convinced. "Are you certain, Sookie? You were…"

"What?"

"Thrashing around quite a bit. What were you dreaming about?"

How do you tell your vampire boyfriend that you were dreaming about him ending your life? And not in that you'll rise again as a vampire kind of way? I decided to just come out with it. "I was dreaming about you," I said quietly.

His face grew serious. "It couldn't have been a good dream. I haven't felt terror like that in at least a century."

My eyebrows flew up into my hairline. "You felt that?"

"Of course, lover. It brought me from my rest."

I glanced at the clock. Sure enough, it was only twenty after five. Sunset wasn't until around five thirty. I had been awake for at least ten minutes. I remembered that day in Rhodes. I'd woken Eric in the middle of the day then too. On purpose, but that didn't matter. He looked more alert this time around. Maybe because it closer to his time to rise?

"Oh. I didn't know that could happen."

"It usually can't, but the rules do not always seem to apply to us," he replied, giving me a small smile.

I didn't know whether to be comforted or worried about that. I chose comfort. I got up out of the chair and went to sit on the bed. I wanted Eric sitting beside me for this. He must have sensed my mood because he followed me without comment. I took a deep breath and began. As I spoke, Eric got more and more still. I was reminded strongly of my nightmare. I shivered.

"Eric, it was just a dream. It doesn't mean anything. I mean, you're not planning on killing me, right?" I said, forcing a laugh. It sounded hollow in my throat.

Eric snapped out whatever he was thinking. "Of course not, lover. Not willingly. But you said Appius was there?"

"Yeah, he was sort of your garden variety villain. I cut him off before he could go into the whole 'I'm the evilest one of all' speech."

Eric smirked. "Yes, I imagine you did. Stubborn and outspoken to the end. I would expect nothing less from you, my lover."

Despite his praise, I had the nagging feeling he was trying to change the subject. "You're worried that my dream could come true, aren't you? Why would Appius want me dead? He doesn't even know me!" I was angry now.

"I can not imagine a scenario in which your dream could come true, but Sookie, as long as Appius survives he has power over me. The fact that he's suddenly reappeared after so many centuries is worrying."

"But you said that he left! He stopped you from coming after me and then left! What could he possibly want with you?"

"I do not know, Sookie. His initial visit never made sense, as you pointed out. And now your dream…are you certain that telepathy is the only gift your fae heritage has bestowed on you?"

"Eric, I'm not even sure the telepathy is directly related to me being part fae. It might just be me. I just might be defective." I didn't mention Hunter, the longer he remained a non-entity the better.

Eric took my hand and squeezed. "You are not defective, Sookie. You have an extraordinary gift that's saved your life more than once."

I snorted; it wasn't a very ladylike sound but I didn't care. "It's also nearly gotten me killed more than once too."

"True, but without it we wouldn't have met."

I thought about that. I tried to imagine my life without Eric in it. It would certainly be quieter. No one trying to kill me. No one using my "gift" for their own ends. Of course in this instance I wouldn't have my gift. I'd just be regular old Sookie Stackhouse, bar maid. Or maybe I'd be Sookie Stackhouse, college graduate. Who knows? And in that instant I knew that wasn't the life I wanted. I wanted this life, the one I had with Eric. I smiled.

"OK, you've convinced me. Telepathy good. But I'm pretty sure that's it. No other weird powers that I know of."

"Have you had any other…interesting dreams lately?"

"I had one this morning, but it was just a nightmare." Eric quirked an eyebrow. I sighed. "Felipe starved you and then decapitated you while I watched. Like I said, nightmare."

"I don't know whether to be flattered or offended that I've taken such a prominent place in your dreams, lover."

"Oh, you should definitely be flattered. Maybe you could give me something a little more cheerful to dream about?" I smiled my most sex kittenish smile.

Eric grinned. His lips were on mine in the next instant.

We never did leave our room that night.